A far-right, Islamophobic group has unleashed havoc outside a Southport mosque over in the UK -- not far from the tragic site where 3 children were stabbed to death this week.
English Defense League members have been tossing bottles and bricks outside the religious place of worship Tuesday -- where Muslims go for prayer, mind you -- and violently clashed with police ... with videos of the tense scenes making the rounds online.
As you can see, these guys went to town .... torching a police riot van, with one officer even ending up with a broken nose amid the madness.
Chants such as “No surrender!” and “English till I die!” were heard over blaring sirens ... with firecrackers going off and a helicopter buzzing overhead. It's a distressing scene, to say the least.
The unruly crowd appeared to be fueled by speculation over the identity of the teenage boy arrested in connection to the stabbing at the Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop ... which took the lives of three little girls, and left several other people severely injured.
The suspect's name hasn't been revealed publicly -- and the police have already said the attack wasn't considered terrorist-related ... and yet, folks there are reacting like this.
With tensions rapidly escalating, Merseyside Assistant Chief Constable Alex Goss cleared up some misinformation ... saying in a statement the suspect was actually born in the UK -- as opposed to being foreign-born, which is presumably why these nationalists are fired up.
Clearly ... they seem to think the suspect is an immigrant who carried out a heinous act, and they're trying to make a political statement with this unruly protest.
One ITV reporter says a local asked them what they were doing and begged them to quit -- and some of the men apparently replied, “You’re the problem! You keep letting them in!” -- referring to immigrants coming into the UK.
Of course ... the city of Southport is already mourning the loss of 3 little girls -- and these savage attacks are the last thing the community needs.